Tasks that are effectuated, in whole or in part, by human assistance or intervention are well known in the art. In some cases, such tasks are potentially comprised of any of a variety of discrete human-enabled events. As one illustrative example, a modern fast food restaurant offers a variety of food products where at least some of the food products require just-in-time or near-in-time final assembly prior to provision of those food products to a given consumer. In some cases the elements and order as characterize this assemblage may be relatively fixed and in other cases there may be a need to accommodate dynamic on-the-fly customization with respect, for example, to the constituent elements being used. For example, a fast food restaurant may wish to offer a basic offering such as a hamburger in conjunction with any combination of a variety of condiments as a customer might wish to specify.
Unfortunately, a modern service-based enterprise often faces significant challenges in ensuring both the efficiency and accuracy of their assemblage processes. The root causes for such difficulties are many and varied. Such assemblage may require the participation of a number of service personnel. This, in turn, can lead to mis-communications regarding what, exactly, is to be done to complete a given order. Efficiency requirements can also lead to problems in this regard when service personnel are allowed only a relatively brief period of time in which to complete their particular event contributions. Problems also often exist with respect to the knowledge base of such personnel and/or the frequency and/or regularity of training requirements that often attend the very high employee turnover rates that tend to typify many service-oriented enterprises.
Such issues, of course, have not gone completely unaddressed in the prior art. By one approach text-based instructions have been offered to display the defining elements for a given order. Such solutions, unfortunately, do not always adequately ensure the accurate and timely assemblage of a given product as per a given customer's stated preferences. Confusion and uncertainty can exist with respect to the precise meaning of such instructions. This problem can be particularly acute when service personnel are not fluent with respect to the language or languages being used to present the textual instructions.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. It will further be appreciated that certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.